#373 Help creating a .conf file for my Australian aircon

[Tony Mobily]

I have an aircon, and I really need to control it remotely. The app provided with it is utter useless rubbish. The maker is TECO, the model is TWS-TSO25HVHT. There is no such an aircon in the database -- the only thing we have for TECO is a TV in the database.

I got a Raspberry Pi and hooked an IF transmitter and an IF receiver. My idea was to record whatever IR code was sent by the remote, and then replicate it. I know the receiver is working, as I can do this:

merc@raspberrypi:~$ sudo mode2 -m -d /dev/lirc0
Using driver default on device /dev/lirc0
Trying device: /dev/lirc0
Using device: /dev/lirc0

(This is rubbish, the IR receiver was near my big monitor)
16777215
 778    46796
  775    46719
  830    46872
  700   130465-pulse  1110478-space
1093946-space
   77    47844
  239   132353-pulse   256368-space
  399   132307-pulse   492326-space
 475715-space
  265   132327-pulse   408328-space
388814-space

(This is me pressing a button on the remote)
 3124     1534      547     1034      546     1035
  545      271      545      271      545      270
  546     1036      545      270      545      271
  545     1033      549     1031      547      271
  546     1033      549      270      546      270
  (... more numbers...)
  479      340      474      339      476      340
  476      340      475      340      477      339
  453      363      453      362      454      362
  453      362      455      361      453      361
  454      361      454      362      453      361
  456      361      454      361      454      361
  454      362      454      361      455      361
  456      362      454      361      454      361
  455      363      452     1125      456      361
  455      360      455      362      454      361
  455      360      455     1127      454      363
  452     1127      454      360      455      361
  455      363      452     1125      456   129779-pulse

So, it works!

When I try to do irecord:

merc@raspberrypi:~# irrecord -n
Using driver default on device /dev/lirc0

irrecord -  application for recording IR-codes for usage with lirc
Copyright (C) 1998,1999 Christoph Bartelmus(lirc@bartelmus.de)

ease take the time to finish the file as described in
https://sourceforge.net/p/lirc-remotes/wiki/Checklist/ an send it
to  <lirc@bartelmus.de> so it can be made available to others.

Press RETURN to continue.

Checking for ambient light  creating too much disturbances.
Please don't press any buttons, just wait a few seconds...

No significant noise (received 0 bytes)

Enter name of remote (only ascii, no spaces) :Enter name of remote (only ascii, no spaces) :t8
Using t8.lircd.conf as output filename

Now start pressing buttons on your remote control.

It is very important that you press many different buttons randomly
and hold them down for approximately one second. Each button should
generate at least one dot but never more than ten dots of output.
Don't stop pressing buttons until two lines of dots (2x80) have
been generated.

Press RETURN now to start recording.
.............................Cannot find any gap, using an arbitrary 50 ms one. If you have a
regular remote for e. g., a TV or such this is probably a point
where you hit control-C. However, technical hardware like air 
condition gear often works without any gap. If you think it's
reasonable that your remote lacks gap you can proceed. 
Press RETURN to continue.

Please enter the name for the next button (press <ENTER> to finish recording)
TEMP_20

Now hold down button "TEMP_20".

Please enter the name for the next button (press <ENTER> to finish recording)
TEMP_21

Now hold down button "TEMP_21".

Please enter the name for the next button (press <ENTER> to finish recording)

Checking for toggle bit mask.
Please press an arbitrary button repeatedly as fast as possible.
Make sure you keep pressing the SAME button and that you DON'T HOLD
the button down!.
If you can't see any dots appear, wait a bit between button presses.

Press RETURN to continue.
Cannot find any toggle mask.

Successfully written config file t9.lircd.conf

However, this is what the file looks like:

begin remote

name  t9
bits            0
eps             0
aeps            0

one             0     0
zero            0     0
gap          50000
toggle_bit_mask 0x0
frequency    38000

    begin codes
        TEMP_20                  0x0
        TEMP_21                  0x0
    end codes

end remote

So, the codes weren't picked up. I looked at this blog entry:

http://absurdlycertain.blogspot.com/2013/03/lirc-raspi-remote-control-configuration.html

So I tried running mode2 in raw mode, ignoring the "pulse", "timeout" and "space' bits.
This is what I get:

$ mode2 -d /dev/lirc0 | grep -v "pulse" | grep -v "space" | grep -v "timeout"

...NOTHING!

By using the remote, and looking at how the unit responds to it, it really looks like the remote sends a FULL configuration to the unit. if I face the remote away from the unit, and change the temperature AND the fan settings AND the mode, if I then direct the remote to the unit, I will see that all of those will change at the same time. I would be prepared for a 48 bit payload, but this is a little much :D Plus, pressing twice the same button doesn't seem to generate twice the same result.

I also read this: https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=235256

However, I am running this:

$ uname -a
Linux raspberrypi 5.15.32-v8+ #1538 SMP PREEMPT Thu Mar 31 19:40:39 BST 2022 aarch64 GNU/Linux

And I believe it's the latest version of irrecord:

$ irrecord --version
irrecord 0.10.1
$

Help?

[Tony Mobily]

I realised that I was using the latest release of lirc, which was quite old. So, I downloaded the source, compiled it, and installed it. Unfortunately, I had the exact same result.

$ irrecord -v
irrecord 0.11.0-devel
$

[Tony Mobily]

Please close this.